Libraries have become a broadband lifeline to the cloud for students

Enlarge/ Three students—Jarquiese McCaskey, Jaquan Hawkins and Zaylan Randolph—hold computers as they enter the school library where they will attempt to do work on laptops with very limited Internet access. As testing time for students is ongoing this time of year, students at Monroe Intermediate School in Lower Peach Tree, Alabama are at a disadvantage as Internet capabilities at the school are limited.

How the Cloud Changes School

As cloud computing has become an integral part of the lives of students at public schools, it has increased the importance of a place generations of students have turned to for much more analog learning needs—the library.

Both public and school libraries have always been a source of information for students. And while the Internet has undoubtedly changed the way students do research, cloud-based tools have actually evolved the library's role rather than diminished it. Public computers at libraries have become an extension of the classroom, and they're an important resource for children who don’t have unfettered access to broadband Internet at home. The cloud has only made those public computers more effective.

I’ve seen the change happen myself—my place of employment, a public library in the Washington DC-area, offers 27 Linux stations for youth and adults to use seven days a week. Before the cloud became popular, students asked for help saving their homework to USB Flash drives or frantically tried to e-mail their partially-completed homework during the last minutes of a computer session. Things would get ugly fast—students lost work far too often, and many rationally concluded that library computers were unsuitable for doing homework.

Thankfully, those days are now past. Almost all the schools in the DC metro area have adopted cloud tools for word processing. Students start their homework assignments at school, pick up right where they left off at the library after school, and then write until the very last second of their computer session. Since tools like Google Docs automatically save work to the cloud every few seconds, no one loses work. Students with Internet access at home can wrap up assignments there rather than staying up late or losing progress.

This sort of access is becoming much more affordable thanks to the FCC’s Lifeline broadband program. Through providers such as Comcast’s Internet Essentials, which provides $10-per-month 10 megabit-per-second Internet access to over three million low-income Americans, more students can get access to broadband at home (though changes to the program pushing approval of providers to the states may slow down the expansion of the program).

Building self-reliance

Still, the library remains an essential lifeline for many today. One big reason has nothing directly to do with broadband, rather the cloud's everpresence enables a new generation to benefit from the old-school help of librarians themselves.

We see this sort of scenario play out at the library several times a month: a fourth-grade student is sitting at a computer with one of their parents, and the parent speaks little English but is there more for moral support. The student possesses enough confidence to log into their Google Docs account and make a best shot at completing the assignment. And in moments of need, they turn to the librarian for backup—asking for help in finding a photograph online of a reindeer or an image of a national flag. When the student is done, their sense of accomplishment and self-confidence is visible. And while the library has always been a resource for these sorts of things, the cloud is what enables the student to both visit the library and access their assignments from class. If connectivity helps bring students into the library, these person-to-person connections can become more common, too.

Phil Shapiro as the Public Geek at the Takoma Park Maryland Library, a small public library in the Washington DC-area. His goal each day is to boost the curiosity of everyone who visits the library – and help youth develop a love of thinking and wondering. Reach him at pshapiro@his.com and on Twitter at @philshapiro.